Finding Hope
by The Red Dove
Summary: A girl hundreds of years ago also discovered that dragons were friendly.  She died trying to prove it.  Can Hiccup help her find peace?  First Oneshot, Challenge for me.


**So, normally I HATE oneshots, and never really wanted to do one, and rarely read them. But there are some awesome ones out there, and I thought I'd give it a shot (pun). So this is a challenge for me. Wish me luck!**

Toothless was pounding heavily on the roof above Hiccup, sending small bits of wood shavings down on him, and eventually, waking him up.

"Toothless!" Hiccup whispered to the ceiling. "I'm coming, be quiet." he reached for his helmet, and stood up, placing it on his head. Hiccup limped towards the door, and opened it to reveal Toothless right on the other side.

"Gah! Oh, gods, Toothless. You scared me!" Hiccup chuckled as he scratched Toothless's favorite spot. "So you wanna go flying, or what?"

To Hiccup's surprise, Toothless shook his head and bounded towards the forest. Hiccup was finally awake as he saw this, and tried to take off running after his dragon, only to have his prosthetic catch onto a root of a tree, him falling onto the cold, damp ground.

Toothless was there in an instant, and helped him onto his back, and continued running to gods knew what. After Hiccup was finally settled on Toothless's back, he placed his prosthetic in place, and the two started flying, Hiccup obeying wherever Toothless wanted to go.

Soon they were at a new island not even Hiccup had seen before, however, he did see some of the Viking's docks were here, but in very bad condition.

It looked like it had been through a fire, and a flood, the scent of burnt and rotting wood soon reached the two.

"What the..." Hiccup stared at the docks in confusion. "How did this get here, or when, or..." an old cavern caught his eye. It looked man-made, as if a cannonball had punched through this hollow rock. Hiccup gently patted Toothless's cheek and pointed over to the cave, Toothless obeying loyally and walked over there.

When they reached the inside, Hiccup stopped Toothless so that his eyes could adjust to the new darkness. As soon as his pupils finished dilating, he looked around the new cave. He spotted something similar to a torch, and hopped off Toothless to pick it up. Toothless wandered over to his friend and lit the torch for him, even though Toothless didn't need the torch to see.

As the flames flickered off of the cavern walls, a chill shuddered through Hiccup, as he spotted paintings. They were sloppily scattered all over the walls, showing a battle between a sea serpant and a human, showing the dragon winning. Above the victor, the word 'Champion' was written in giant Norse lettering.

Hiccup stared in wonder at this drawing, wondering exactly how far he and Toothless had walked to come over here. He walked out of the cave again, to notice that the village of Berk was nowhere in sight. As he walked back in, he noticed another drawing on the opposite wall. This one was of a Terrible Terror sitting next to the fallen human, warding off any predators who came near. Written above the dragon the word 'Protector' was proudly written.

Hiccup placed his hand on the drawing, and looked around to find more, only finding Toothless near the exit, pointing his nose at another wall.

The wall Toothless gestured to was not one with a painting, but an opening. Hiccup slowly walked through the opening, ducking when needed, and walked down the sloped ground.

When he reached the bottom, what he saw amazed him. There was not a single space on the walls, all of them were colored with scenes of the human and the Terror, revealing that they were friends over time. Hiccup smiled as he noticed this, reaching to pet Toothless, only to find he wasn't there.

However, he heard his dragon above him, and realized that he couldn't fit through the opening.

"I'll be right up, bud. I'm okay." Hiccup reassured his friend, and continued exploring this hidden room. He stepped over a scorch mark on the ground, and walked over to where a spring of clear, blue-green water was sitting undisturbed. Hiccup fought the urge to touch it, and instead walked around it, accidentally knocking a pebble in there, forming ripples.

Hiccup flinched and backed away slowly, somehow scared.

"You needn't be afraid." a calm feminine voice called to him. "It's just water."

He turned around to see a form of a young woman sitting in a corner.

"Uh, who are you?" he cautiously asked.

"I'm Christine." she replied in a soft, almost inaudible voice.

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked. "Where do you live?"

"Here." she stated. "I can't leave, not until people see."

It was then that Hiccup noticed that she was slightly transparant.

"Oh gods, are you~?"

"Dead?" the girl asked. "Yes. But don't worry."

"Uh..." Hiccup nervously rubbed the back of his neck, trying desperately not to freak out. "Until people see what?" Hiccup slowly asked.

"Everything we know about dragons. It's wrong. They're very kind and loving."

Hiccup stared at this woman. "When did you...you know, die?" he cautiously asked.

"If you live here, then before your settlers came to live here." she responded.

"But that was hundreds of years ago!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Then this is the first conversation I've had with a living human for hundreds of years." Christine slowly responded. "If you're wondering how I speak Norse, I was sold as a slave as a young girl to Vikings by my people. The Vikings actually saved me, mind you, and never used me for anything. They took me in as one of their own."

Hiccup nodded, as his unspoken question was answered. "Well..." Hiccup started. "Dragons and Vikings now live peacefully. They now live with us." Hiccup stated.

Christine's head snapped up. "For how long?"

"Just a few months ago." Hiccup answered, now feeling more comfortable talking to Christine.

"Then I guess I can finally rest in peace. Take care of Hope for me."

"Wait!" Hiccup reached out for the girl. "I could show you, before you leave."

The girl seemed to ponder this, and then smiled and nodded. "I guess that would be okay." she responded.

Back with Toothless, Christine couldn't help but smile. Never before had she seen a Night Fury, let alone one waiting patiently for a human.

As Hiccup sat on Toothless, he slid his prosthetic into position, and held out his hand for Christine to take. She grabbed his hand and slid on. "I've never ridden a dragon before." Christine mused.

They flew back to Berk, and soon saw the lights of the village, and the people with their dragons scurrying about the town passing the day away.

Christine smiled as they landed, and pet Toothless on the head. "It's beautiful." she said, as she started to fade away. "Thank you."

Suddenly a bright light appeared, and Hiccup shielded his eyes. By the time the light faded, Christine had gone.

Hiccup smiled at where she once sat upon Toothless' back, and a tear fell down his cheek.

"How did you know about this, Toothless?" Hiccup asked, stroking his dragon.

The Night Fury called out to something in the distance, and soon a Terrible Terror flew into sight, and landed a few feet away from Hiccup and Toothless.

Hiccup stared in shock at the little dragon before him. It was a pale red, and had blue tinted horns at the tip of his head, and his left ear had a tear in it.

"...Hope?" Hiccup questioned.

The dragon perked up at the name, and walked over to Hiccup, rubbing against his leg.

Hiccup laughed and picked up the small dragon, petting her head, and she nuzzled into him.

"How long do you guys live, anyway?"

"Hiccup!" Astrid ran over to her boyfriend. "I've been looking for you! So are we going flying or what?" she glared in mock anger at him.

Hiccup held up his hands in defeat after gently setting down Hope. "Take it easy. There's something I have to do, first."

He walked over the grassy area not too far away from him, the dragons and Astrid right behind. Hiccup continued over to where a small patch of flowers grew, and picked some up.

"Hey Astrid, let's fly somewhere new today. I found this cool cave a ways over there." he pointed out to where he had just come from as he gently placed the flowers in a pocket in his vest with his other hand.

"Okay." Astrid. "It better be good. Who's this little guy?" she gestured to the new Terror.

"That's Hope..." he started as he hopped onto Toothless, as Astrid sat on Stormfly. The three dragons took off towards the cavern, two of which had riders, one of the riders telling a story of his discovery.

**Phew. I hope that turned out okay. I just had this idea in my head, and didn't want a ten thousand + story, after I already have four other things to work on. Basically, someone else also discovered the dragon's secret, but never told anyone, for they wouldn't listen, and obviously died. Just to show how awesome Hiccup is, that not only can he tame dragons and bring peace to the two warring species, but can also help a spirit find peace, who died trying to do the same thing.**

**Hope you liked it!**


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